“Tomorrow, baby,” he said. He had never called me “baby” or anything but Makayla. “Tomorrow.”

I tried to get back to sleep, but the night was cold and the cold was coming through the broken windows. At some point, the boy came out of the corner and curled into me where I was curled into Jaden. He was shivering. I reached into my back pocket and handed him his cell phone, which he clutched like it would make everything okay.

10 I woke up with early morning sun coming through the windows of the schoolroom. The day still seemed gray and ominous, even with the golden sunlight. Someone in the room was leaning down over some sleeping people, rummaging through their possessions while they slept. When he saw my eyes open, he stopped and went back to the spot he’d occupied before on one of the blue mats. He laid there staring at me, glaring. I clenched my hands tight around my sienty weapon.

Jaden and the boy were next to me. None of us had showered in days, and it was clear. We stunk. My long black hair hung down greasy around my face. Normally, I would have put some shit in it and went on with my day, but none of my hair products besides my now-useless straightener had been on the list of things I’d jammed into my bag when I’d packed. I thought of the things I had brought with me—a toothbrush and toothpaste, my cell phone charger, my contact lens solution. Most of them weren’t worth their weight in my bag and I’d probably have to discard them. I’d taken to wearing my glasses on day two, with no running water to wash my hands before taking out the lenses. Likewise, I’d given up on the idea of brushing my teeth because the sink was out in the dangerous hallway. I could feel a scum of tartar building up on them when I ran my tongue over them.

I’d been avoiding the hall at all costs, but, sitting up, I knew I had to go out there. My dream came back to me, and my resolve to find my grandmother came with it. If we were facing this, here, who knew what she was going through out there, alone in her apartment. The housing project she lived in was not the safest place I’d ever seen on a good day. What it was like now, with all the power out and all the chaos the storm had brought, I couldn’t even imagine.